Australians prefer sticking to favourites over home brands

21st May 2015

The brand loyalty of consumers in Australia is being scrutinised, with new research finding people are more likely to stick to the brands they know rather than find the best bargain.

According to the latest research offerings from Roy Morgan Research, nearly half of grocery buyers in Australia (47 per cent) say they will switch brands and go for the cheaper option. However, 70 per cent say they prefer to stick to their favourite brand for the things they want to buy. Just 38 per cent say they buy more home brand products than well-known ones from supermarket chains.

However, the survey found customers of one particular supermarket were an exception to this rule.

The German-owned supermarket, ALDI, was found to have 63 per cent of shoppers who say they buy more ALDI-branded products than better known options. In the survey, 60 per cent of ALDI customers were the most likely to go out of of their way for a bargain.

When presented with the statements "I trust well-known brands better than the stores' own" and "I have favourite brands for most things I buy and I tend to stick to them", ALDI customers were far less likely to agree with them than shoppers at Coles, Woolworths, Safeway and Foodland.

"Australians are not becoming more open to them: on the contrary, trust of well-known brands over the stores own has grown slightly since 2010, as has the proportion of grocery buyers who tend to stick with their favourite brands for most things they buy," said Angela Smith, group account director at Roy Morgan Research.

Knowing what customers want and getting them to change loyalty is no easy task for small businesses that may not offer a wide range of brands. However, using accounting software with stock control features can provide a business with information they can analysis regarding the brand buying patterns of their customers.